Trey Gowdy Just Exposed What The Dems Are Doing To Block Benghazi Investigation With Damaging Letter

House Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., has responded to the refusal by some Democrats to maintain the integrity of his committee’s work by refusing to give them documents the Democrats have threatened to leak.

Gowdy sought an assurance from Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., that Democrats would agree not to leak important information from the hearings. He did not get it.

“As recently as this afternoon, I offered Mr. Cummings total, unfettered access to, and control of, transcripts if he simply agreed he would not selectively leak them. He would not give me that assurance,” Gowdy said in a statement.

Gowdy said Democrats had threatened to release transcripts from witnesses that included White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and former CIA director David Petraeus.

“Once they stated their intention to misuse transcripts, I could not in good faith allow them to do so. Mr. Cummings likes to frequently lecture people how ‘we’re better than this,’ but his actions and the actions of his staff with regards to this investigation unfortunately prove otherwise,” Gowdy said.

Gowdy added that he has “no choice but to protect past witnesses, future witnesses, confidential material and the integrity of the investigation by allowing the Democrats equitable access but not control.”

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To protect documents from spilling out and distorting public opinion, Democratic staff can view the documents, but not have possession of them.

“[I] would be pleased to provide copies of these transcripts to Minority staff and members for your own custody just as soon as you commit to stop the practice of selectively releasing certain transcripts while ignoring the release of others,” Gowdy wrote.

The committee was formed in 2014 to investigate the events of September 11, 2012, in which four Americans were killed in an attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. One of the major threads of the investigation has been the role of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the front-running Democratic presidential candidate, in protecting the compound and in responding to the attack.

Cummings charged that the Republicans on the committee want to use the report to damage Clinton’s campaign and are timing its release to do maximum damage. Gowdy has said the report will be released some time over the summer.